Convection heater



Patented Oct. 3, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CONVECTION HEATER Martin J. Whelan, Glendale, Calif. Application April12, 1944, Serial No. 530,719

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a convection heater.

Heretofore it has been the practice, in constructing heaters of the kindto which this invention pertains, to install the heat-radiating part inthe bottom portion of the cabinet. This results in a disadvantage whenit is desired to convey the heating fluid through bendable metal pipeswhich are directed upwardly into the cabinet, because it prevents makingsuch pipes long enough so that they can endure being repeatedly flexedas is required in moving the cabinet out from and back into a wallrecess provided for it. By this invention the heat generating portion ofthe structure is located in the upper portion of the cabinet, thusovercoming the above mentioned defect.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide, for house heating, aheater which is better adapted for being installed within one of thewalls of a, room, where it will be out of sight when not in use and willin no wise detract from the neat appearance of the room; to provide aheater which will not interfere with the thorough cleaning of the roomat any time; to provide a heater of a more space-economizing characterwhich will always be neat in appearance whether in use or out of use;and to provide a house heater contained in a cabinet of an improvedconstruction which may be more conveniently moved manually from itsretracted, concealed position to the extended position which it occupieswhen the heater is in use.

A more specific object of the invention pertains as has already beenindicated, to the provision of a wall heater of the extensible typewhich may be moved to and from an alcove therefor in the wall, theheater being of that type wherein metal pipes are used to convey steamthrough them or other heating fluid, said pipes being slightly flexibleand the arrangement of the pipes being such that ample length of pipe isprovided for the part of the pipe that is flexed so that, during themovement of the heater to and from its retracted position the requiredbending of the pipe will be distributed over a sufficiently great lengthof pipe to avoid danger of weakening or breaking the pipe as a result ofbeing repeatedly flexed.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafterappear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates what is atpresent deemed to be a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the device as installed for use, one sideportion thereof being broken away to disclose interior construction.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on angular line 2-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the heater, the same being shown in theretracted position in the left portion or the view and in the extendedposition in its right hand portion. The wall is shown sectioned on line3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section, showing on an enlarged scale the guidingmeans which govern the movement of the heater from and to its retractedposition, the angular line 4-4 on Fig. 3 indicating the plane ofsection.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 5 designates in a general way aportion of the wall structure of a room upon which the heater ismounted. In said wall portion a rectangular alcove is formed havingsurfaced studding 1 at its sides, a back wall 8, a top wall formed by awindow sill 9 and having its bottom formed by the floor III of the room.Through said floor I0 is cut an elliptical opening near each side of thecabinet, the major axes of said openings extending transversely of theaforesaid alcove. Within each of said openings is fitted a spaciouselliptical ring or sleeve II the purpose of which will presently appear.

In the upper portion of the alcove of the wall is a sheet metal liningmember l2 having'a top wall portion I211, a back wall portion I2!) andend wall portions 120. Outside of all of these wall portions of saidlining member is a layer I2d of asbestos which prevents the adjacentportions of the wall from becoming overheated by the heater elementpresently to be described.

The cabinet structure, which is capable of extension and retraction withrespect to the alcove by means of the handle l3, comprises a front wallor panel portion l4 and end walls I5 so constructed as to enclose a,rectangular space which is open at the top, bottom and back.

A pipe structure is provided which comprises a straight horizontal toprun or pipe I! at each end of which is an elbow l8, one of said elbowsconnecting one end of the horizontal pipe with an upstanding fluidintake pipe l9, which is directed upwardly through the already mentionedsleeve II at its side of the structure, the opposite end of said pipe llbeing connected by means of the other elbow to an upstanding fluidoutlet pipe I correspondingly positioned at the opposite side of thestructure. It will be observed that when the cabinet is in use its endwalls I! conceal the upstanding pipes l9, ISa thus contributing to theneat appearance of the device.

The horizontal top pipe I! carries a series of rectangular heatradiating fins 20, said flns being in a closely adjacent relation toeach other and being desirably equally spaced apart in respect to thelength of the pipe as shown in the drawing. Each of these fins isprovided with a central ,apertured portion which is fitted closelyaround the pipe, the fins being secured to the pipe by welding or anyother well known desired means.

The horizontal top pipe I! has each of its end portions extendingthrough one of the corner portions of an approximately triangular sheetmetal bracket 17.1: which has along its opposite side an attachingflange l'ly welded or otherwise secured to the back side of the frontwall ll of the cabinet. Said bracket flanges are shown directed awayfrom each other, the body portion of each bracket abutting against theheat radiating fln at that end of the series. Along the back face of theupper part of the front cabinet wall H extends, from bracket to bracket,a layer of asbestos Ma, there being a slight space between the fins andsaid wall portion, which space is occupied by said asbestos layer toprevent the front wall of the cabinet from becoming undesirably hot. Itis desirable to provide a backward bend in the pipe structure at eachend of the horizontal pipe I1, and as this must be done withoutinterfering with the mounting of the fins 20 upon the pipe ll, each ofthe pipes I9 and l-Sa is provided near its upper end with a back bentportion B which is fitted into the already mentioned elbow l8 at itsside of the cabinet. When the cabinet is drawn out from the alcove bymeans of the handle I3 the flanges or brackets Ila; engage the pipestructure shown to force it forwardly.

Below the extensible cabinet structure is a base board 2| which s sopositioned that when the cabinet is in its retracted position, said baseboard will form a downward continuation of the front panel M of thecabinet, and at the same time a header 2| above the cabinet will form anupper continuation of the upper part of said panel l4. By painting orpaperin the panel M in the same manner as the adjacent portions of thewall the appearance of the wall will not be noticeably altered when thecabinet is in its retracted position.

Describing now the means for guiding the movements of the cabinet fromand to its retracted position, as generally indicated at 22 in Fig. 1,but shown on a larger scale in Figs. 4 and 5, at each of the four cornerportions of the alcove there is provided a horizontally extendingC-shaped guide plate 23 which is secured to the adjacent wall portion ofthe alcove by screws 24 one of which is shown in Fig. 5. When thussecured in place each of these guide plates is prepared to receive arail 25 which is T-shaped in cross section, said rail having a web 25'which extends through the open side of the guide plate 23 and having ahead flange 25" consisting of a strip which extends horizontally as toits length and vertically as to its width within said guide plate, thelower edge of said strip 25" resting slidably upon the lower innersurface of said guide plate. Welds 26 are shown whereby the stem portionof said T-shaped rail is secured to the adjacent end wall l of thecabinet. Stop lugs 28 are carried by the rear edge portion of each endwall of the cabinet to cooperate with upper and lower flanges 29 of theguide plate 23 to limit the outward movement of the cabinet, thecooperative relations of said lugs and flanges is shown in Fig. 4.

In the operation of the device the attendant does not have to open orclose any valves, and need only pull out upon the handle l3 and therebywithdraw the cabinet from the alcove so that the air after entering theopening beneath the bottom of the extended cabinet, will ascend to theupper portion thereof where it will move over the surfaces of the heatedtins and, by convection, convey the heat radiated from them out into theroom.

When the cabinet is pushed back into the wall, the circulation of airacross the fins is stopped, and so is the radiation of heat from them.In the heating operation which takes place when the cabinet is drawn outfrom the wall, the air enters the open lower end of the cabinet, asindicated by the arrows in Fig. 2 and after being heated by the fins inthe upper portion of the cabinet passes out into the room.

The upstanding pipes l9 and I911 are desirably of copper or of a similarsoft, bendable metal so that they may be repeatedly bent the requiredamount without injury, and also will remain in the adjusted positionboth after extension and retraction of the cabinet. By comparing witheach other the full line and dotted line positions of these pipes asshown in Fig. 2, it will be seen that each pipe may rise slightly as itis drawn forwardly and descend slightly as it is pushed back, thuspermitting the required horizontal, rectilineai movement of thefin-carrying pipe ll.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purposeof illustration only and that this invention includes all modificationsand equivalents which fall within the scope of the subject matterclaimed.

What is claimed is:

1. In a heater of the kind described, a cabinet insertable into a wallalcove therefor, guide means to guide said cabinet while being movedhorizontally from and to a retracted position in relation to saidalcove, heat radiating means mounted in the upper portion of saidcabinet, and deflectable metal pipes extending upwardly through thebottom of said alcove and thence upwardly to said heat radiating meansto convey a heating fluid thereto.

2. The combination, with a vertical room wall having therein an alcovewhich opens into the room near the floor thereof; of a cabinet normallyoccupying said alcove, guiding means intervening between said cabinetand side portions of said alcove to guide said cabinet while being movedhorizontally from and to a retracted relation to said alcove, heatingmeans mounted in the upper portion of said cabinet, and deflectablemetal pipes extending upwardly through the bottom of said alcove andthence upwardly to said heating means to convey a heating fluid thereto,each of said pipes passing through a hole in the bottom of said alcovesufficiently large to allow a material horizontal movement of the partof the pipe within said hole when the cabinet is moved as aforesaid.

3. The combination, with a vertical room wall having therein an alcovewhich opens into the room near the floor thereof; of a cabinet normalloccupying said alcove, guiding means intervening between said cabinetand side portions of said alcove to guide said cabinet while being movedhorizontally from and to a retracted relation to said alcove, heatingmeans mounted in the upper portion of said cabinet, said heating meansincluding a pipe extending in a generally horizontal direction in theupper part of said cabinet, an upstanding fluid supply pipe in one sideportion of said alcove positioned to convey heating fluid to one endportion of said horizontal pipe, and an upstanding fluid outlet pipe inthe opposite side portion of the alcove positioned to convey the fluidfrom the opposite end of said horizontal pipe, said upstanding pipesbeing sufliciently deflectable to follow said cabinet during itsmovement from and to a retracted position in relation to said alcove.

4. In a heater of the kind described, a structure containing anupstanding alcove the height and width of which is great in comparisonto its front to back dimension, a cabinet housable within said alcove,guide means in said alcove for said cabinet along which it ishorizontally movable from and to a retracted position in relation tosaid alcove, heating means within said cabinet comprising a pipe in theupper part thereof extending in a generally horizontal direction, andupstanding deflectable pipes communicating with the opposite ends ofsaid horizontal pipe, said upstanding pipes leading up,

rection, and upstanding deflectable pipes communicating with theopposite ends of said horizontal pipe, said upstanding pipes leading upinto said alcove through the bottom thereof, said cabinet having wallportions which conceal said upstanding pipes when the cabinet iswithdrawn from its aforesaid retracted position.

6. The subject matter of claim 1, and there being a base-boardupstanding from the floor of the room along the front-side of saidalcove, and said cabinet having an open lower end which is positionedforwardly of said base-board when the cabinet is in its extendedposition, to admit air from the lower portion of the room into said openlower end of said cabinet, said base-board forming a downwardcontinuation of the front wall of the cabinet when the latter is in itsretracted position.

7. In a heater of the kind described, a cabinet insertable into a wallalcove therefor, guide means to guide said cabinet while being movedhorizontally from and to a retracted position in relation to saidalcove, heat radiating means mounted in the upper portion of saidcabinet, a horizontal pipe forming a support for said heat radiatingmeans, deflectable pipes extending upwardly through the bottom of saidalcove and communicating with opposite end portions of said horizontalpipe to convey heating fluid to and from said horizontal pipe, andbrackets secured interiorly to the upper portion of said cabinet andalso secured to said horizontal pipe.

8. The subject matter of claim 7, and said brackets consisting of plateshaving apertures through them within which said horizontal pipe isfitted.

MARTIN J. WHELAN.

